The invention relates to a method of treatment for fungal infection with synergistic combination of plant compounds useful for enhancing the activity of antifungal compounds. The plant compounds menthol and menthyl acetate when mixed at specific concentrations enhances the antifungal activity of the commercially available fungicides.
In spite of tremendous advances made in the modem system of medicine there are still large number of diseases for which suitable drugs are still not available in the modern system of medicine. Areas where new drugs are urgently needed include tropical diseases like bacterial and viral infections, rheumatism and immuno-modulators. Out of many diseases, skin infections caused by fungal pathogens are very common especially in tropical, under-developed and in developing countries due to poor hygienic conditions. Fungal infections of the skin are very common in all age groups. They are caused by microscopic fungal organisms, which normally live on the skin surface without causing symptoms. Under appropriate conditions of moisture, warmth, irritation, or minor skin injury, they start to grow more rapidly and invasively, causing a range of health problems. Tropical environment where the heat and humidity allow the fungi to thrive is yet another important factor in the spread of fungal diseases. Infection also occurs when the body is exposed to pathogens or organisms that are usually non-pathogenic but become a threat for reasons such as on account of decrease in immune systems mainly because of organ transplant operations, cancer chemotherapy and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
To counter these infections only a handful of antifungal agents such as Greseofulvine, Amphotericin, Nystatin and Azole derivatives are available in the market. Most of these antifungals are synthetic derivatives with known serious side effects and toxicity to human and animals. Compounding this problem is the development of resistance towards commonly used drugs thus rendering the chemotherapy less useful. Therefore new antifungal substances from natural sources have to be generated to counter the resistance phenomenon.
Superficial fungal infections of skin affect millions of people throughout the world. Most of these skin diseases are caused by dermatophytic fungi like Trichophyton rubrum Trichophyton mentagrophytes Microsporum gypseum Epidermophyton floccossum and Candida albicans, which are infectious in nature. Secondary infections due to bacteria are common in the primary skin lesions. In India, large number of people are involved in agriculture with majority of them living in villages where due to the prevailing unhygienic conditions, the incidence of mycotic infections are severe. Moreover, the skin infections spread rapidly due to poor hygienic conditions, increase in the density of the population and increase in the level of environmental pollution. Medicinal plants have been playing an important role in world health as 80% of the world population rely chiefly on traditional medicines for their primary health care (WHO, 1993). Use of plant derived drugs has an added advantage of being xe2x80x98naturalxe2x80x99 with little side effects or toxicity. It is well known that the plant-derived products are extensively used as biologically active compounds. Among them essential oils, where the first preservative used by man, originally in their natural state within plant tissues then as oils obtained by distillation mainly because of their anti-microbial properties and pleasant odour. Many of the essential oils have found to have antifungal, cytostatic and insecticidal activities (Franzias et al. 1997). Because of their notable anti-microbial activity coupled with pleasing flavour the essential oils can be used to treat microbial infections such as skin diseases.
Skin constitutes the major part of the exposed part in the body. Natural remedies have been the most accepted and are relatively the safer means for treating fungal diseases since they are less likely to interfere with the beauty and attraction of the skin. Plants being an important source of anti-microbial substances can be used effectively for the treatment of skin diseases. Beauticians and skin specialists are the first to realize the protective role of herbal products, as they are less toxic and believed to enhance the skin attractions.
The incidence of fungal infections is increasing alarmingly, due to reasons mentioned above. During 1990-96 the world market for antifungals is over U.S. $1500 millions representing 1.5% of the total global anti-infective market. Currently anti-fungals (both topical and systemic) represent more than 6% of the total anti-infective agents. The world market for antifungals is expanding at the rate of 20% per annum and is estimated to reach over U.S. $600 million/annum. However, many of the synthetic antifungals cause side effects in immune stressed individuals. On the other hand, plant products such as Echinaceae and tea tree not only helps cure infections but also boost the immune system. Therefore, formulations made out of herbal compounds will have more acceptances than the synthetic antifungals for applying in the external affected area (topical applications).
Candidiasis is a mycotic disease caused by a species of Candida usually Candida albicans, which affects man and animals. In man candidiasis commonly occurs as localized infections of the mouth (oral thrush), and vagina (vaginal thrush) and involves the formation of whitish mucoid plaques on the mucous membrane. Cutaneous candidiasis tend to occur on skin areas constantly exposed to moisture, regions commonly affected include eg., the groin and axillae. The infected skin is swollen, red and pruritic. Chronic muco-cutaneous candidiasis is a severe condition, which occurs, in immuno-compromised or otherwise abnormal individuals; the skin and mucous membranes of the entire body may be affected, with chronic, granulomatous, inflammatory reactions in the underlying tissues. Other forms of candidiasis include broncho-candidiasis, pulmonary candidiasis and systemic candidiasis.
Cryptococcosis is also a fungal disease of man and animals caused by Cryptococcus neoformans; infection occurs on inhalation of dust contaminated with the fungus. Pulmonary infection may be mild or inapparent. However, particularly in individuals with defective CMI or certain leukemia, the disease may become disseminated to almost any tissue (liver, bones, skin etc.) but especially to meninges leading to cryptococcal meningitis, which is often fatal.
Fungal infections such as candidiasis, cryptococcosis and dermatophytoses (ringworms) are mostly treated with antibiotics namely Griseofulvin, Amphotericin B, terbinafine and Azole compounds such as Clotrimazole, Flucanazole, Miconazole, Itracanazole, Ketoconazole etc. However, all these antifungals exhibit serious side effects to humans limiting their clinical usefulness.
Combinations of antimicrobial agents are generally used for one of the following purposes: (i) to increase the fungicidal activity and/or the rate of killing in vivo, (ii) to prevent the emergence of drug resistance, or (iii) to enlarge the antimicrobial spectrum for curing poly-microbial infections. Synergism can be defined as the fungicidal activity of the drug combination significantly more pronounced than the sum of the fungicidal effect of each agent alone in comparison with the effect in untreated control (Fantin B and Carbon C, 1992, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 36 (5): 907-912).
In the present invention Candida albicans (MTCC1637 equivalent to ATCC is 18804)=Interdigital mycoses; Neotype strain, production of citric acid) is used for all the experimentations (MTCC=Microbial type culture collection, Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India).
Planned experiments are carried out to test the synergism between plant compounds/compound combinations and the commercially available anti-fungals like Clotrimazole, Amphotericin B and Nystatin. Out of all the combinations, the combination of Menthol and menthyl acetate in specific ratios is found to be synergistically increasing the activity of the anti-fungal compounds.
The compound Menthyl acetate is a liquid and 99.2% pure as analyzed through GLC. This is a well-characterized compound and is obtained from the chemistry division of Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow, India. The compound menthol is procured from Sigma chemical company, USA.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a method of treatment for fungal infection by effectively using natural plant compounds, which can enhance the bioactivity of antifungals.
Another object of the invention is to reduce the concentration of these antifungals to a level/dosage at which they do not exhibit any side effects and hence safe to use. Yet another object of the present invention is to screen a large number of plant compounds and their combinations for synergism with the antifungals like Clotrimazole, Amphotericin B and Nystatin due to the plant origin and lower concentrations in which used are non-toxic.
The present invention relates to a method of treatment of fungal infection with a combination of plant compounds synergistically acting to increase the activity of antifungal compounds. The compounds are Menthol and Menthyl acetate which when mixed at specific concentrations improves the antifungal activity of the commercially available fungicides which is higher than simple addition in the individual activities.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of treating fungal infection with a bioactive synergistic formulation comprising the following ingredients:
(a) menthol in the range of 1-54%;
(b) menthyl acetate in the range of 1.5-62%; and
(c) an antifungal compound in the range of 23-95%.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the concentration of antifungal compounds is in the range of 0.078-5.0 xcexcg/ml.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the antifungal compounds are selected from the group consisting of Clotrimazole, Amphotericin B and Nystatin.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the concentration of Clotrimazole in the formulation is in the range of 0.078-0.3125 xcexcg/ml.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the concentration of Amphoterecin B in the formulation is in the range of 0.15625-1.25 xcexcg/ml.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the concentration of Nystatin in the formulation is in the range of 0.15625-5 xcexcg/ml.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the most preferred concentration each of menthol and menthyl acetate in the formulation is 0.125 xcexcg/ml respectively.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the ratio of menthol and menthyl acetate is in the range of 0.05-3.2.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the ratio of menthol and menthyl acetate with Clotrimazole is in the range of 0.80-3.2.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the ratio of menthol and menthyl acetate with Amphotericin is in the range of 0.20-1.6.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the ratio of menthol and menthyl acetate with Nystatin is in the range of 0.05-1.6.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the enhanced activity of the formulation is in the range 16 to 32 fold over the antifungal agents used in isolation.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, said formulation consisting of menthol having a specific gravity of 0.981 and the purity to the extent of 99.0%, is dissolved in menthyl acetate having a specific gravity 0.92 and the purity of 99.2%.
In another embodiment of the present invention, said formulation is used to treat human beings.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, said formulation is effective against pathogens selected from group consisting of cryptococcosis, dermatophytoses and preferably Candida albicans. 
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the formulation is administered in the form of oral, topical preparations and by other pharmaceutically accepted methods.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the formulation is effective in preventing the drug resistance.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, the formulation is effective in curing polymicrobial infections.
The present invention is further explained in the form of following examples. These examples however should not be construed to limit the scope of the invention.
Planned experiments are carried out to test the synergism between plant compounds/compound combinations and the commercially available anti-fungals like Clotrimazole, Amphotericin B and Nystatin.